The scientific work of women is often viewed through a national or regional lens, but given the growing worldwide connectivity of most, if not all, scientific disciplines, there needs to be recognition of how different social, political, and economic mechanisms impact women's participation in the global scientific enterprise.
Although these complex sociocultural factors often operate in different ways in various countries and regions, studies within and across nations consistently show inverse correlations between levels in the scientific and technical career hierarchy and the number of women in science: the higher the positions, the fewer the number of women.
Understanding these complex patterns requires interdisciplinary and international approaches.
In April 2011, a committee overseen by the National Academies' standing Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine (CWSEM) convened a workshop entitled, "Blueprint for the Future: Framing the Issues of Women in Science in a Global Context" in Washington, D.C. CWSEM's goals are to coordinate, monitor, and advocate action to increase the participation of women in science, engineering, and medicine.
The scope of the workshop was limited to women's participation in three scientific disciplines: chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and statistics.
The workshop presentations came from a group of scholars and professionals who have been working for several years on documenting, analyzing, and interpreting the status of women in selected technical fields around the world.
Examination of the three disciplines-chemistry, computer science, and mathematics and statistics-can be considered a first foray into collecting and analyzing information that can be replicated in other fields. The complexity of studying science internationally cannot be underestimated, and the presentations demonstrate some of the evidentiary and epistemological challenges that scholars and professionals face in collecting and analyzing data from many different countries and regions.
Blueprint for the Future: Framing the Issues of Women in Science in a Global Context summarizes the workshop presentations, which provided an opportunity for dialogue about the issues that the authors have been pursuing in their work to date. Table of ContentsFront Matter1 Welcome and Overview of Workshop2 Panel I - Cross-Cultural Issues3 Panel II - Focal Disciplines4 Panel III - Cross-Cutting Themes5 Concluding Presentation and DiscussionAPPENDIX A: Workshop AgendaAPPENDIX B: Biographies of SpeakersAPPENDIX C: List of ParticipantsAPPENDIX D: Data on Women Researchers in ScienceAPPENDIX E-1: A Snapshot of Gender Differences inEducation--Angelica Salvi Del PeroAPPENDIX E-2: Historical Perspectives on Women in Chemistry,Computer Science, and Mathematics--Mariko Ogawa, Lisa M.
Frehill,and Sophia HuyerAPPENDIX E-3: Institutional and Cultural Parameters AffectingWomen's Participation in the Fields of Chemistry, Mathematics,Statistics, and Computer Science around the World--Anne J. MacLachlanAPPENDIX E-4: Workforce Sex Segregation--Alice Abreu, Lisa M. Frehill, and Kathrin K. ZippelAPPENDIX E-5: Status of Women in the Chemical Sciences--RobertLichter, Willie Pearson, Jr., Lisa J.
Borello, and Janet L. BryantAPPENDIX E-6: Computer Science: Cross-National Snapshots of EntryDegrees and IT Workforce in Selected Countries--J.
McGrath Cohoon,Caroline Simard, Juliet Webster, Cecilia Castano, Juliana Salles,Jane Prey, and Jacques WainerAPPENDIX E-7: Disciplinary Societies' Role in Women's Status inChemical Sciences, Computer Science, and Mathematics andStatistics--Lisa M.
FrehillAPPENDIX E-8: Promising Programs in Science: A Cross-NationalExploration of What Works to Attract and Sustain Women--DarylChubin, Catherine Didion, Josephine Beoku-Betts, and Jann AdamsAPPENDIX E-9: Promising Policies--Cheryl B.
Leggon, and Connie L. McNeely
